Craftsman&#39;s guideline holder



March 13, 1951 s, ALWOQD 2,544,645

CRAFTSMANS GUIDELINE HOLDER Filed Feb. 4, 1949 ITr.1

INVENTOR.

amma E 6% W000 BY 4 TTOR/VEYS Patented Mar. 13, 1951 V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CRAFTSMAN'S GUIDELINE HOLDER Samuel F. Alwood, Waterloo, Ind.

Application February 4, 1949, Serial No. 74,677

2 Claims. 1

Whenever a guide line is used by a craftsman, the same is stretched between two anchors secured to a support. Frequently, the support includes spaced corners. Thus, in the laying of a masonry wall, such as a house wall, it is customary to build up the corners above the intermediate courses of masonry, and stretch a guideline above the topmost intermediate course at a height level with the next intermediate course to be laid. Brackets engageable with the spaced corners of the support and with the line are known in the art, but are unsatisfactory in use.

With the foregoing in view, it is an object of my invention to provide an improved craftsmans guide line holder comprising a pair of brackets engageable with spaced corners of a support and adapted to engage and tension a guide line there between.

A further object is to provide a guide line holder such as that last described, wherein at least one of the brackets includes resilient means engaging the line to tension the same and resiliently maintain the brackets in engagement with the corners.

A further object is to provide an improved guide line holder such as that last described, wherein said bracket mounting the spring includes a line snubber in spaced relation to the spring and wherein the spring includes means engageable with theline to tension the same and also to snub the same about said snubber.

A further object is to provide in'a masons line holder, a pair of line-holding brackets, each of said brackets including a pair of legs diverging from each other at an angle slightly less than a right angle, whereby to engage, opposite sides of the masonry corner, but to provide a clearance between the bracket and the corner at the apex of the latter.

Other objects and advantages reside in the particular structure of the invention, combination and arrangement of the several parts thereof, and will be readily understood by those skilled in the art upon reference to the attached drawing in connection with the following specification, wherein the invention is shown, described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a plan view of the masonry wall showing the guide line holder according to the invention applied to spaced corners thereof, and supporting a guide line therebetween;

Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view through one of the holder brackets;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the bracket of Figure 2.

While the drawing and following description shows and describes the device used as a masons guide line h0lder, it is understood that the device is usable by any craftsman and may be applied to any spaced corner-providing supports.

Referring specifically to the drawing,.wherein like reference characters have been used throughout the several views to designate like parts, and referring at first to Figure 1', I0 designates a masonry wall having spaced corners II and I2. Guide line-holding brackets I3 and I4 are supported on the corners II and I2 and tension and support a guide line I5 therebetween. The brackets I3 and I4 are themselves supported on the corners I I and I2 by the tensioned line I5 in a well known manner. In the formation of masonry walls, it is extremely diificult to achieve a perfect right angle at the corners thereof. This is partly due to the difficulty in forming a perfect right angle, but is also due to the fact that the individual pieces of masonry, such as blocks and bricks, are seldom formed with perfect -degree corners. Also, such pieces of masonry frequently have surface irregularities, such as bulges or other deformations in the region of the corners thereof. In view of the foregoing, where a guide linesupporting bracket includes a pair of legs disposed exactly at right angles to each other, the same will inherently wobble when disposed in straddling relation to the masonry corner which is not exactly a right angle, and/or which includes surface irregularities in the region of the corner. With this in view, the particular brackets according to the invention have been devised. Inasmuch as the brackets I2 and I3 are identical, it will suffice to describe but a single one of them.

Thus, although only the bracketl3 will be referred to hereinafter, it is to be understood that the bracket is is substantially identical, except as otherwise indicated. The bracket I3 comprises a pair of legs I6 and I! of which the le I6 comprises a forward or working leg, while the leg I? comprises a rearward or holding leg. The legs I6 and I1 are integrally connected together, and it will be noted from Figure 2 that the legs diverge from each other at an angle slightly less than a right angle, whereby when the bracket is applied to a corner I I comprising a right angle, only the free inner corners I8 and IQ of the legs I6 and I! are in actual contact with the masonry wall III in straddling relation to the corner II. This arrangement provides a clearance or space 20 diagonally outwardly of the corner I I in which may be accommodated irregularities of the corner H and/or the surfaces of the wall l immediately adjacent such corner.

Preferably, the leg I! is bifurcated as shown, so

as to provide a line snubber or snubbing corner 2| between the furcations thereof at the rear edge of the working leg IS. A handle 22 is integral with the legs l6 and I1 and extends diagonally outwardly thereof. In the embodiment shown, the handle 22 comprises a yoke including a pair of spaced arms 23. The free ends of arms 23 are each provided with an inwardly-directed spring anchor or lug 24. Each anchor or lug is formed with any suitable means, such as the bore 3|, for anchoring a spring end. The free ends 32 of U-arranged contractile coil springs 26 are threaded through bores 3| and hooked over the lugs 24. The bights of the springs 26 are connected together by a cross wire 21 to provide a resilient snubber for snubbingly engaging a portion of the line l after the same has been passed about the snubber 2| and looped over the cross wire 21.

The outer surface of the working leg 5 has threaded therein a thumb screw 28 providing a line end anchor for the line l5. Thus, a washer or like line clamp 29 may be slidable on the screw 28 and resiliently held into engagement with the line end by an expansive spring 30. Thus, the end of the line I5 is extended rearwardly below leg Hi, upwardly between the furcations of leg around snubber 2|, and forwardly between arms 23 of the handle across the resilient snubber provided by cross wire 21. The line is now tensioned to stretch the springs 26 and the free end of the line is now wrapped about the thumb screw 28 below the washer 29 in a well known manner to anchor the same. The anchoring of the line I5 is aided by the double snubbing of the line. If desired, the inner surface of the working leg l6 may be provided with a line-receiving groove 34 to prevent pinching of the line between such surface of the leg [6 and the adjacent surface of the wall i0.

In the embodiment illustrated, both the brackets l3 and M are provided with identical linetensioning springs 26, snubbers 2| and 21, as well as identical line end anchors 23. However, it is obvious that given sufficient strength in a pair of springs 26, the same and/or the snubber 2| may be omitted from the other bracket. However, the other bracket preferably is formed with a line end anchor.

Also, while I have shown and described what is now thought to be a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of other forms and expressions. Consequently, I do not limit myself to the precise structure shown and described hereinabove except as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. A craftsmans guide line holding bracket comprising a first leg having one face adapted to abut a vertically disposed wall, a second leg arranged transversely of said first leg and having one end in alignment with one end of said first leg and secured to the latter leg adapted to abut a vertically disposed meeting wall, said one end of said second leg being bifurcated for the insertion therethrough of a guide line, a handle arranged at an angle with respect to said first leg and having one end secured to the meeting ends of said legs, the other end of said handle terminating in a pair of spaced arms, a pair of U- arranged springs positioned within the space between said arms and each having their legs secured to the adiacent free end of said arms, a wire arranged transversely of the bights of said springs and connected thereto for the looping thereover of said guide line, and a line end anchor projecting from the other face of said first leg adjacent to and spaced from its other end for fixedly securing the end of said guide line to said first leg.

2. A craftsmans guide line holding bracket comprising a first leg having one face adapted to abut a vertically disposed wall, a second leg arranged transversely of said first leg and having one end in alignment with one end of said first leg and secured to the latter leg adapted to abut a vertically disposed meeting wall, said one end of said second leg being bifurcated for the insertion therethrough of a guide line, a handle arranged at an angle with respect to said first leg and having one end secured to the meeting ends of said legs, the other end of said handle terminating in a pair of spaced arms, a pair of U- arranged springs positioned within the space between said arms and each having their legs secured to the adjacent free ends of said arms, a wire arranged transversely of the bights of said springs and connected thereto for the looping thereover of said guide line, a line end anchor projecting from the other face of said first leg adjacent to and spaced from its other end for fixedly securing the end of said guide line to said first leg, said line and anchor embodying a screw having one end secured to the other face of said first leg and having the other end provided with a head, a clamp slidably supported on said screw intermediate its ends for securement of the end of the guide line thereto, and resilient means circumposed on said screw and operatively connected to said clamp and the head of said screw for urging the clamp toward the other face of said first leg.

SAMUEL F. ALWOOD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

